1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to the field of teaching aids for stringed instruments.
2. Background Art
Many stringed instruments, including the violin, viola, cello and stringed bass, necessitate that the player use his/her fingers to stop the strings against the fingerboard, thereby producing different notes. Given the absence of frets on these instruments, one of the most difficult issues for the novice is to learn the correct placement of the fingers on the string, so that the notes thus played sound in tune. Traditionally, students learn by trial and error, slowly training the auditory and tactile senses in order to achieve the proper finger positions. However, this is a long and arduous process often leading to frustration for the beginning student, as well as the teacher. Many devices have been invented to speed the novice's learning of the correct placement of the fingers.
The beginning student of stringed instruments faces two formidable challenges: the apprehension of basic musical material, and the acquisition of the instrumental technique necessary to play this material. The material of Western music comprises a set of twelve discrete musical tones known as the "chromatic scale." These notes can be named according to various systems: Do, Re, Mi, etc., or A, B, C through G, with the indications "sharp" or "flat," as necessary. Proceeding in sequence either up or down the chromatic scale, the thirteenth note takes the same name as the first, and is said to be its "octave." Continuing in the same direction repeats the cycle of twelve notes in another octave, with the range of audible frequencies being approximately eight octaves. However, in a composition, one note is usually selected to be the principal note, and the composition is said to be in the "key" of that note. To reinforce the principal note, various sets of notes called "scales" are utilized. Of many possible scales, the most common is called the "major scale," which is the set of seven of the twelve chromatic notes having specific relations to the principal note. This is most clearly seen at the piano keyboard, where the seven white keys in each octave together form the major scale starting on C, with the five black keys being extraneous to this scale. If a note other than C is selected as the principal note, a different set of seven notes is selected so as to always maintain the same distribution of tones relative to the principal note. One of the main tasks of a student of any instrument is to learn the specific notes necessary to play in a variety of different scales and keys.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,845,686, entitled "Intonation Guide for Player of String Instrument," trains the player's tactile sense by means of a signal element, a circuit therefor, and a series of pressure-activated tabs mounted on the fingerboard of the instrument. When the player places a finger, a tab closes a circuit which results in a signal to the player informing him or her as to the accuracy of the finger placement. This device necessitates extensive preparation of the fingerboard. The continual signaling proves to be a distraction to the player, and its complicated apparatus makes it both impractical and expensive for the novice.
Other devices teach the posture and use of the fingers without reference to specific locations along the string. These include those described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,619,470, to Harris, entitled "Hand-Positioning Device for Violinists;" U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,314, to Columbo, entitled "Finger Training Device for Stringed Musical Instruments;" U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,175, to Kaplan, entitled "Apparatus for Instruction of Stringed Instrument Positioning;" and U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,176, also to Kaplan, entitled "Apparatus for the Instruction of Hand Angulation in Playing Stringed Instruments." However, this approach is abstract, rather than concrete. The result of these inventions is that the player may indeed appear to have the proper technique while still playing badly out of tune.
Some patents disclose inventions aimed at reducing the possibility of error on the part of the player by restricting the notes which are possible to play. One such device, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,460, to Kuhnke, entitled "Intonation Aid for the Violin, Viola and Cello and Other Instruments of the Violin Family," is a molded plastic sleeve containing a series of stops (essentially frets) which fits between the fingerboard of the instrument and the strings. When the string is depressed behind a stop, the correct note results. Unfortunately, the string vibrates against the plastic, producing an unwanted buzzing. Since the stop is raised, the string tends to roll underneath the player's finger, thereby undermining the very precision which the device aims to improve. Additionally, the player must place his/her finger behind the stop, thereby learning a placement of the fingers distinct from that of the instrument without this device. Similarly, the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,851, to Aalfs, entitled "Articulated Fingerboard for a Stringed Musical Instrument," is a fingerboard with a plurality of raised areas which define the discrete locations where the player must place the fingers. With this device it is difficult to play out of tune, but due to the alternation of raised and lowered surfaces, it is also difficult to move the finger along the length of the string. The device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,204,454, to Severn, entitled "Instructional Apparatus for Stringed Instrument," features a keyboard placed over the strings of the instrument which operates a series of depressible plungers which stop the string. In this case, the fingers operate the device, rather than the musical instrument, and have no contact with the string itself. These three devices suffer from the generic defect that the technique thus cultivated is distinct from that which is used for the playing of the instruments in their common form.
Other devices provide visual clues to the player. U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,497, to Nicklaus, entitled "Stringed Musical Instrument Teaching Device and Process," describes a fingerboard bearing a metal rack into which are placed magnetized trapezoidal markers, each of which defines an area for the placement of the fingers and which bears the name of the note thus created. The fact that the markers define a relatively wide area of the fingerboard (1 cm or more) results in a great imprecision. Also, the necessity of variously applying and removing the markers makes it cumbersome. Having a similar feature and suffering similar defects is the device receiving U.S. Pat. No. 4,291,606, to LePage, entitled "Musical String Instrument." This device features rectangular pieces of contrasting colors secured to the fretboard between each fret. The device revealed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,464, to Kregg, entitled "Stringed Instrument Finger Positioning Guide," is a rigid flat surface affixed beneath the strings of a fretted musical instrument and which bears colored spots to mark the finger positions for playing a variety of chords. The fact that this device is flat and bears slots to engage the nut and frets of the instrument makes it unsuitable for the curved and fretless fingerboards of the violin family. Similarly, the device receiving U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,040, to Glucker et al., entitled "Teaching Device for Stringed Instruments," is a mock fretboard external to the instrument which bears template cards illustrating note positions and is used for practice.
Certain devices, including U.S. Pat. No. 3,854,370, to Sapinski, entitled "Training Aid for Stringed Musical Instrument;" U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,495, to Roof, entitled "Musical Instrument Training Device;" and U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,509, to Graham, entitled "Electroluminescent Fret Grid for Stringed Instruments" are electrical devices which use luminescent displays to mark the notes on the fingerboard. These devices are expensive and complicated, and involve a radical reconfiguration of the instrument itself.
The devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,756, to Feldman, entitled "Guitar Instruction System;" U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,757, to Johnson et al., entitled "Instructional Display Device Operated Responsive to the Playing of Stringed Musical Instruments," and U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,005, to Shaffer et al., entitled "Fingering Display for Musical Instrument" are various types of note displays external to the instrument. These devices demand that the player attend to a device external to the instrument, thereby preventing the complete and total concentration on the task of playing. The Feldman device includes indiciae comprising the note names which underly the strings of a guitar so as to inform the player as to which notes result when the finger is in a given location.
Other attempts to simplify the learning process include "Fingertips," Copyright 1986, and the extremely similar "Perfekt Noten." Both devices are made of adhesive-backed paper, attach to the fingerboard of the instrument, and feature both note indicator lines and note letter names (A, F-sharp, etc.) printed in white on a black background. As both devices utilize the same scheme of lines plus note names, label the identical set of twenty-eight notes in the first octave (out of a possible forty-eight notes), and utilize very similar fonts, the only substantial difference between them is that "Fingertips" uses a combination of dashed, dotted and solid lines, whereas "Perfekt Noten" utilizes only solid lines. Both devices suffer from similar defects: paper is easily abraded, and the items fit only on the top surface of the fingerboard, thus making them prone to slippage. Also, measurements tend to indicate that from an acoustical point of view, these devices are simply not accurate as to the placement of notes. Most seriously, the presentation of a large quantity of information (lines and letters) in the stark contrast of black and white makes visual apprehension, discrimination and retention very problematic for the beginner, thus defeating the goal of simplifying the initial learning process.
Many teachers of the violin affix strips of 0.6 cm or wider tape to the fingerboard in order to give the student a visual cue for the location of the fingers. (This is frequently described in the professional literature, for example, William Starr, The Suzuki Violinist, Kingston Ellis Press, 1976, p. 65.) Problems with this method include the rather time-consuming process of applying numerous individual tapes and the difficulty of exact placement of the tapes. Even when well placed, such tapes are a very imprecise guide as to the location of the fingers, since they are extremely wide when compared to the necessary precision of finger placement.
Devices of a decorative nature have been patented for various stringed instruments, including the violin. U.S. Pat. No. D264,477, to Brent, entitled "Guitar Fretboard or the Like;" U.S. Pat. No. D275,686, to Beasley, entitled "Decal for Violin or the Like;" and U.S. Pat. No. D370,939, to Schaeffler, entitled "Decal for a Guitar Neck." Each of these is purely decorative in nature and none have a functional aspect.
The present invention overcomes the limitations of the prior art discussed above. It is computer-designed utilizing the laws of acoustics so as to guarantee accuracy of note location, identifies those locations with note position indicators, utilizes colors to visually discriminate between the note locations, and does not indicate note letter names for the user. It is more professional, produces much less visual clutter, and trains the user visually based upon color. The present invention is a note locator for stringed instruments having a flexible planar surface with color note position indicators that give the user easily identifiable visual references for positioning the fingers on the strings of the instrument rather than explicit note names or tangible mechanical stops or obstructions which train the user to rely on them as opposed to independently acquiring finger placement locations. The apparatus is preferably adhesively affixed to the fingerboard of the stringed instrument and has sufficient additional material for overhang to wrap around the fingerboard to stabilize the device on the curved fingerboard of the instrument. The present invention indicates precise locations for where the notes are to be played on the strings and provides this information in a manner easily ascertained by novices. The apparatus and its method of use cultivates the commonly used finger action and technique for stringed instruments. The present invention indicates to the user both the specific placement of the fingers, and, through the arrangement of colors, the musical structure of scales. In the preferred embodiment, the present invention is easily applied to the instrument, does not adversely affect the production of sound, and does not damage the instrument in any way.